This post is continued from “Consonance and Dissonance (Part 1)“ In music, consonant and dissonant intervals are super-important. Because they tell us which notes sound good together … and which notes sound bad. Using plain, old scale degrees, we can kind of see what these intervals look like—check it out. We just rearrange the 12

Relaxation CDs are interesting … because they make me so relaxed. Maybe it’s just that I need to get more sleep. But if one of those tracks starts to play on my iPod, I zone out almost immediately. In fact, the calming music is so soothing that it’s kind of got me confused. I mean, how do

Have you ever noticed that showers are like time machines? It’s strange … whenever you step into one, the world suddenly slows down. Is it magic, or just weird science? If you don’t believe me, then try this little experiment: Step 1 – Begin playing a catchy album on your stereo. It’s important that the music

In most of the music you’ll play, each chord will have only three notes. The average song includes only basic major triads and minor triads. And occasionally, you might see a few augmented triads and diminished chords. But for the most part, musicians keep it simple … and they stick with the major chords and minor

Now that we know how to illustrate time (or “duration”) in music, we can play anything we’d like. After all, music is really about two basic things: Pitch (that is, the 12 notes of the chromatic scale), and Duration (like whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, etc.) All we have to do is combine these

As an art form, music is pretty unique. It’s unlike painting, sculpture, architecture, glasswork—and a bunch of other kinds of art—for one big reason. It takes time to unfold and make sense. Unlike other art forms, music must have time to work its way from beginning to end. To put it another way, it’s easy to experience

With Color Music, it’s easy to play any new song. But … at the same time, it actually shows us how music works. So we also know why we’re playing each note. Which means we get the best of both worlds. On the one hand, it “dumbs things down” so everything is now easy to play. While on

Okay, so I’ve sort of criticized Guitar Hero a couple of times already. And I’ve run the risk of sounding like a musical snob. But the truth is, that game is on to something. I mean, what’s easier than following a bunch of colored shapes to make music? In the end, the “musicians” who play this game

By now, you may have noticed that I’m not making this up. The truth is that Color Music is real … which means both color and music follow the exact same patterns. Once you see this connection, you can simply follow these patterns wherever they go. So what started with a basic color wheel is now

In music notation, all 12 notes are laid out in the chromatic scale pattern. So it’s pretty easy to pick apart. The only thing is … this pattern looks different than how we’re used to seeing it on a piano keyboard. You see, on a piano, the chromatic scale is laid out from left to